


when you're still waiting for the snow to fall.

by commonemergency



Series: ficmas 2017. [20]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Christmas Time, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 20:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13084464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commonemergency/pseuds/commonemergency
Summary: Dan had been in his life for so long that he was just there without having to be there.prompt: based off a line from one of my previous stories. or when you have a partner and sometimes the word "friend" means something so much more.





	when you're still waiting for the snow to fall.

**Author's Note:**

> based off a line from [and every day that you want to waste (i want to waste it with you)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13072272)

It’s Christmas time in the Lester household, Phil had gotten in a couple of days ago and had a pretty relaxing Christmas break with his family. He helped bake cookies with his mother which were cooling and did his best to try and knead the bread that had to be made for his aunt’s Christmas lunch that they were attending, and there would be a lot of people there and it was fun but there was a lot of family members that he hadn’t talked to in a while and that was always a tricky time for him all things considered. Dan wasn’t there but it often felt like he was with the way that people had asked about him, and it wasn’t unusual, Dan was a part of his life in a lot of aspects. They were intertwined in each other’s personal space in many ways. Dan had been in his life for so long that he was just there without having to be there. 

Dan was on Skype while he decorated the cookies since they were done cooling, his earbuds weren’t in because that would have made the task more difficult. “Don’t say anything that will hurt my mother’s feelings.” Phil warned, his mother coming in the room sometimes to say hello to Dan. 

“I won’t.” Dan gave him the middle finger and Phil had placed a hand over the screen as he looked behind him. 

“Phil, you’re thirty years old, she knows you say naughty words.” Dan laughed, and the connection was a bit spotty considering Dan’s wifi at his family home was _fucking awful._

“I think I prefer Colin and Adrian, honestly.” Phil smirks, grabbing a Christmas Tree and frosting it with blue and green. He was trying to make the Christmas cookies as zany as possible. He had thought about painting the cookies all rainbow to make it not so subtle of who had frosted them but there were some family members that didn’t know and lived in an ignorant bliss about the fact that Phil had a lifelong flatmate for the past eight years. 

“Speaking of,” Dan had said, Phil watched him reach for something and then he saw the fluff of Colin, who looked like was licking the screen. It made both of them laugh. “Here’s your new boyfriend, my dog.” Colin had rested against Dan’s arm and Phil quickly took a screenshot. 

“What are you doing other than being annoying?” Phil asked as he grabbed another cookie and frosted it as best as he could but honestly he had been doing this for a while now and he didn’t really feel like doing anymore. 

“Rude.” Dan said, “I’m currently trying to think of an excuse to skip out on Christmas Mass with my grandmum, even though I’ll probably end up going because of guilt.”

Phil gave him a sympathetic look, pressing his fingers to the edge of his laptop screen. 

Phil’s mother had walked in and placed a hand on her son’s shoulders as she looked at the screen at Dan. 

“Hello, Daniel! Oh, is that Colin?” She leaned in closer and Dan tried to get the dog to look at the screen but he was pretty content with where he was at. 

“Hello, Merry Christmas, Kathryn.” 

He loved whenever his mum and Dan had interacted together, it was very wholesome and sometimes he wished the rest of the world could see it but then remembered how much better this was. 

“I don’t appreciate you getting my son sick, but I can’t really blame ya,” Kathryn teased, patting the top of Phil’s head and then she was gone. 

“Right, I need to finish the rest of these, and then I need to get ready. So I’ll call you later before bed, yeah?” Phil didn’t want to end the conversation but his aunt’s Christmas lunch was vastly approaching and he was still in his PJ’s. 

“Yeah, alright, sounds good. Have fun with your famalam.” Dan waves goodbye and it’s not forever, but sometimes it feels like it. 

* 

Phil and Martyn really did try their best to socialize with family members but some of the people here he didn’t know very well and he was slightly uncomfortable but he was glad that his brother was here at the very least. Phil would smile when a relative would come up, placing their hand on Martyn’s arm and begin a conversation that brought Cornelia up, and there’d be things like, _Gosh, you two are so cute together, aren’t they Phil?_ And Phil would nod his head, taking a sip of his wine while he listened to, _How do you like your flat in London? I meant to send you things to put on your Christmas tree but never got around to it!_

Martyn would give an anecdote about something that happened in their lives because everyone loves hearing a good domestic story, and Phil couldn’t help but think of how different this particular relative would react if he told them that Phil had the same story but with his partner. 

“You still have the same flatmate, Phil?” Would eventually be asked to not seem rude, and Phil would smile and nod his head. 

“Yeah. Dan. He’s good. I was just talking to him this morning.” 

There’s a nod, the conversation is over, and they’re walking for their second or third drink this afternoon. 

“It’s not that you’d want people butting into your relationship anyway.” Martyn says with a sigh, pouring a bit of his wine in Phil’s glass because Aunt Pammy is by the wine station and that’s a woman who can talk your ear off for an hour and they know better. 

“No, you’re right,” Phil says, taking a drink from his glass, “It’s just not the point.” 

“I know, Phil. Let’s go grab some cookies.” 

*

There are people that can read the space in between and understand what it meant when Phil talked about Dan; like he was his favourite subject in the entire world. He brought him up when it was appropriate, saying how they had their own traditions that he got from his mother, and they’d both look for her in the crowd of people and she’d have her arm wrapped around her husband and it was picture perfect, and Phil wished he could take a picture of people’s reactions when they finally got it. 

When the party’s over and they head back home Phil is exhausted from all the socializing, he wants to nap even though there’s a few presents to open still. Martyn has gone outside to call Cornelia since they hadn’t been able to talk yet today. Phil thinks it’s the perfect time to Skype Dan if he’s available because he’ll want to sleep early. 

He opens his laptop up presses call. When Dan answers his face looks flushed like he’s drank a lot and Phil smiles shaking his head. “How much wine did you drink?” 

“Quite a bit.” He laughs, and he can see the glass of water in his hand and then a dog coming up next to Dan. 

“Oh, hi, Colin.” Phil waves at the pup and gets in a comfortable position on the bed. 

“How was Christmas?” Dan asks, giving Phil his full attention because it looked like he needed it. 

“It was fine.” Phil says with a shrug, “I’m just so full and so tired.” He placed a hand on his stomach and patted gently. 

“Yeah… My mum asked how you were doing.” It seems that they’re both tired, full, and a little sad. 

Colin licks the side of Dan’s face and it makes Phil laugh. 

“My aunts that care enough asked about you, too.” 

Downstairs Phil can hear the Christmas Carols from the bluetooth, he knows that his mum will be making everyone tea and a coffee for Phil because he prefers it. It’s part of tradition to wind down with a drink and some biscuits. Dan can hear it too because the music is loud enough. 

“See you soon?” Dan smiles at Phil, but the smile is a rare one that Phil never gets to see except for holidays and birthdays, it’s the kind of special fond smile that means more than I love you, and more than I miss you, and it makes Phil’s heart swell just a little bit. 

“See you soon.” Phil taps three times like they always do. 

“Merry Christmas, Phil.” Dan taps back. 

“Merry Christmas, Dan.” 

Christmas meant so much to Phil, and he couldn’t wait for their house with a big backyard and a dog to run around in it, and he couldn’t wait to set the tree up with all the baubles and lights, with milk and biscuits. Dan texts him a quick _i love you_ , and it’s enough for now. While Phil couldn’t wait for the new traditions he’d have in the future, he was also excited for the old ones waiting for him downstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos appreciated!
> 
> talk to me on tumblr/twitter: **@nihilismdan**


End file.
